After young girl injured at Oceans of Fun died, the water park made this safety change

The Coconut Cove pool at Oceans of Fun, where a young girl was fatally injured earlier this month, was reopened to the public over the weekend with a change in safety regulations, according to a spokesman for the water park.

The change comes after a 6-year-old girl who was injured at the park July 5 died days later at a hospital.

Oceans of Fun reopened Coconut Cove to the public on Saturday following “an extensive review of all our safety and operating protocols,” Dwayne McMulkin, a spokesman for Cedar Fair, said in an email.

For safety, the park increased height requirements for those needing life jackets to 60 inches, or 5 feet tall, McMulkin said Monday. Children less than 3 1/2 feet tall must be “accompanied by a supervising companion,” according to the website.

Little is known about the specific injuries suffered by the girl, who was identified Monday as Adeline Stewart. She would have turned 7 years old last Friday. Her city residence is unknown.

McMulkin said he did not have details from Adeline’s family or the hospital as to what caused her injuries and whether she drowned.

Coconut Cove is a “superpool” that has it all, according to the water park’s website.

The 500,000 gallon, 4 1/2 foot deep pool features different play elements like floating lily pads and logs, mini slides, the Aruba Tuba, and floating animals like a friendly shark and happy hippo.

About 6:45 p.m. July 5, the water park’s dispatch notified two off-duty Kansas City police officers working there that lifeguards had pulled an unresponsive child out of the pool and were performing CPR, according to an incident report. One of the officers requested an ambulance for the child.

Adeline was taken to Children’s Mercy Hospital with critical injuries. She died from her injuries, the park’s owner, Cedar Fair Entertainment, announced on July 12.

Police have classified the incident as a “death investigation,” said Sgt. Jake Becchina, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department.

The medical examiner’s office is investigating and will determine the cause of death, he said.

Focus on safety

McMulkin said that at Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun, safety of guests and associates is always a top priority.

“As part of this commitment, we regularly review all of our health and safety protocols to ensure full compliance with city, state, and industry standards and regulations,” he said. “All attractions are rigorously inspected and reviewed as part of the safety protocols for daily operation.”

Other safety requirements include:

• Persons without seated postural control or appropriate observed behavior must be accompanied.

• Infants, who must be hand held, are permitted but must be accompanied.
  
  

• While the pool is wheelchair accessible via zero depth entry, the water level may not exceed the height of the seat on the chair.

• Guests with a cervical collar, neck brace, broken collar bone, full arm cast, braced arm cast or full leg cast are not permitted to use the pool.

McMulkin said they were “deeply saddened” to learn of Adeline Stewart’s death last week, adding that their thoughts and prayers were with her family.